Monday, April 28, 2008

Floor prep for the new tile consists of: removing existing laminate, removing adhesive from said laminate through back breaking scraping technique, removing vinyl tile that has warped from water damage in the bathroom over the 40 years of it's lifespan, replacing the removed vinyl tile panels with new ones (requires some creative cutting), patching leftover holes/dips with floor patch (wet cement). Once this is complete we can start the "oh so easy" 3-step process of adhering, grouting and sealing the new ceramic tile.

and

This has turned out to be a smelly process, so we have had to improvise with bath time:

It is times like these that I am happy we live in a tiny house. If that bathroom were 20 more square feet we would not be undertaking this project. Luckily, Ella doesn't mind the mess. You might even say she is used to it ; )

Thursday, April 24, 2008

They are capris for babies! I think Ella sports them very nicely, don't you?

She has been killing me with cuteness all day! I dumped some things fresh from the dryer on the couch and returned to the garage to put the next load in the dryer and returned to Ella wearing my nightgown. I have NO IDEA how she wrangled it on while standing. She has never even attempted to put something on before...that I know of. I was gone *maybe* 45 seconds.

What have we gotten ourselves into? Easy stuff turns out to be hard, hard stuff is totally doable. Home improvement is definitely not our strong suit. It started off with replacing the sink. I wanted a pedestal sink...well, after the purchase of said pedestal sink we realized that our off-centered drain line wouldn't allow for it. That was alright...I'm a gal who can roll with the punches. I got another cabinet sink..."euro-style", of course. I guess that fancies it up a bit. I have already left out the part about ripping out the old sink months ago so that we are completely without a bathroom sink. Under the old bathroom cabinet was the old floor. We would need to update the floor, too so that the room would flow nicely. I decided we needed to do ceramic. Do we know how? No. Were we willing to try? Kinda.

OLD:

NEW:

Now, I have added bead boarding the lower half of the room, replacing the old medicine cabinet with a more contemporary (though still cheap) mirror and throwing on the bucket of paint I bought for the room 2 years ago upon purchase of the place.

BEAD BOARD:

PAINT (Herb Garden Green):

Paint is done. Bead board is 1/2 done. Floor is 1/5 done. Sink is being installed as I type. Trim work, wall hole patching (from old medicine cabinet space) and fine tuning also still on the list. Please, wish us luck and harness all of your carpentry energy our way.

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

No complaints here. I certainly don't feel any different. I started the morning with Zach bringing me flowers in bed, along with his gift of a big 'ole bag of Starbucks crack (oops, did I say that?)...correction, coffee. Then Ella woke up with a giant smile and a song in her heart, per usual. My sister came over shortly thereafter and we scooped up my very preggie girlfriend Stephanie for some Kirby Lane pancakes...mmmmm, mmmm! They were wonderful. Steph and Charley wrestled over the check and it might have killed my pancake buzz, but Charley had just presented me with *bling* a new diamond necklace! WOWSERS! I totally love it. Here it is:

After breakfast Charley, Ella and I hung out around the house and in the backyard.

Here are Charley and Ella, racing to tell me Happy Birthday : )

Here they are listening to birds in the backyard.

This afternoon I was showered with cards and phone calls from family and friends. Zach, Ella and I ended the evening with dinner at Hut's Hamburgers and a milkshake to boot! So, maybe I gained a few pounds today, but I don't have to watch my "girlish" figure anymore because now I am a WOMAN!

Friday, April 18, 2008

You buy a home and your only problem is that your new landlord doesn't get around to fixing things as quickly as you like (you only have yourself to blame). Your years (and years) of living in an apartment with noisy neighbors is over, right? WRONG-O, because just when you settle in to your cozy new nest, so do your new upstairs neighbors. Those of you who have been to my house are saying "Wait a minute, your house is only one-story!" You would be correct, but you are assuming that when I say neighbor that I mean human. We have a nice young family of squirrels, a.k.a. rodents, that have nestled into the insulation just above our bedroom...above our bed...directly over our heads, to be exact. Sure, we have evicted them. They relocated for all of a day. They have ripped a fresh hole in the screen that covers our attic ventilation system and they are back. For how long? I'll keep you "posted" and leave you with this image....

Thursday, April 17, 2008

Hello to you, whomever you are. I am new to this gig, though I have several favorite blogs that I read and learn from each day...err, weekly. I want to start this thing off with a *BANG*, so here goes nothin':

Mmm,hmmm, that is only my favorite girl with her bubble goatee. She wants to be just like her dad and that would be alright with me, sans a real hair goatee.

If that wasn't *BANG-Y* enough for you, then the rest of the junk I have to say/capture in this space might not be up to par either. If, on the other hand, you enjoyed my *BANG* you should stay tuned and don't forget to EAT YOUR VEGGIES!